The present invention relates generally to computing systems and, more particularly, to a method and system for enabling selection and association of objects in a computer system. It has specific application to the operation of a computer system involving a form-based user interface.
The advent of graphical user interfaces for computer systems generated an alternative method for instructing a computer system to perform desired tasks. In particular, the development of the mouse and the graphical representation of objects on computer screens enabled users to select an object by placing the mouse cursor over the object, or in the vicinity thereof, and activating a button or other selection means on the mouse.
The selection of an object represented in a graphical format enabled a user to instruct a computer to perform tasks with respect to that object. An example of this approach is the deletion of a document from the computer, which in some systems could be effected by selecting the graphical representation of the object to be deleted and then selecting a graphical representation of a xe2x80x9cdeletexe2x80x9d command. This approach could also be used for the association of attributes with objects.
An alternative approach for instructing a computer to perform the task of deleting an object was to select the graphical representation of the object and to move the object, generally referred to as xe2x80x9cdraggingxe2x80x9d the object, into the vicinity of a graphical representation of a command that would execute the desired task. A particular example of this was the use of a graphical representation of a garbage can or trash can to represent the xe2x80x9cdeletexe2x80x9d command. Thus, users could remove objects from the computer system by selecting and xe2x80x9cdraggingxe2x80x9d the object into the vicinity of the garbage can. Once in the vicinity of the graphical representation of the command, users could activate that command by placing the object onto the represented command, generally referred to as xe2x80x9cdroppingxe2x80x9d the object.
The graphical user interface assisted users wishing to associate attributes with objects. This could be effected by selecting the graphical representation of an attribute and then selecting the graphical representation of the object to which the attribute should apply. Alternatively, the user could select the graphical representation of the object, or attribute, and drag it into the vicinity of the graphical representation of the attribute or object and drop it, thus forming the desired association between the object and the attribute.
Additionally, the use of such a graphical user interface enabled users to relatively easily associate objects with one another. For example, when sending an electronic mail message, users often wish to attach an object to that message generally in the form of a document or picture that is relevant to the content of the mail message. In such a circumstance, the user is effectively associating two objects with one another, namely, the document or picture and the electronic mail message.
It is an objective of the present invention to provide a method and system for enabling association of objects in a computer system.
The invention provides in one aspect a method for enabling association of objects in a computer system, the method including the steps of:
providing a user with at least one first form printable on a first surface to provide to a user viewable information associated with one or more objects;
providing a user with at least one second form printable on a second surface to provide to a user viewable information associated with one or more commands;
receiving, in a computer system, indicating data from a sensing device operated by the user regarding movement of the sensing device relative to said first or second surface,
interpreting, in the computer system and from the indicating data, if the movement of the sensing device relative to the first surface is in relation to selection of one or more of said objects of said at least one first form, and if the movement of the sensing device relative to the second surface is in relation to selection of one or more of said commands of said at least one second form, thereby signifying in the computer system the association of selected one or more objects with selected one or more commands; and
providing the user with an amended version of said at least one second form including a representation of said selected one or more objects.
The invention provides in a further aspect a system for enabling association of objects in a computer system, the system including:
at least one first form printable on a first surface to provide to a user viewable information associated with one or more objects;
at least one second form printable on a second surface to provide to a user viewable information associated with one or more commands;
a computer system for receiving indicating data from a sensing device operated by the user regarding movement of the sensing device relative to said first or second surface,
the computer system adapted to determine, from the indicating data received, if the movement of the sensing device relative to the first surface is in relation to selection of one or more of said objects of said at least one first form, and if the movement of the sensing device relative to the second surface is in relation to selection of one or more of said commands of said at least one second form, thereby signifying in the computer system the association of selected one or more objects with selected one or more; and
means for providing the user with an amended version of said at least one second form including a representation of said selected one or more objects.
In applying the invention, at least one of the forms may include coded data indicative of at least one reference point of the form, by means of which the indicating data can be generated. Additionally, the coded data may be indicative of the form""s identity. In an alternative form, the sensing device may generate the indicating data independently of any form, by use of, for example, accelerometers incorporated into the sensing device, or by an optical mouse technique. A suitable manner of a stroke of part of the sensing device on or relative to the first surface may be prescribed for designating an object or objects on that form, such as circumscription of a viewable information zone, or image border intersection of a viewable information zone.
In a preferred form, the step of associating said selected one or more objects with said selected one or more commands involves application of said one or more available commands to said one or more objects, such that the representation of said selected one or more objects on the amended version of said at least one second form is dependent on said selected one or more commands.
Clearly an object may signify any data set storable by the computer system, representing, for example, an image or part of an image, a text item, a computer file, a message, etc. An object may itself signify a command to be effected in the computer system, or an attribute of a command.
A command may be any command available to be effected by the computer system. For example, it may relate to pasting an object, such as a piece of text or an image, to said second form. It may relate to searching the second from for specified content. It may relate to applying an attribute to part the second form, such as a colour, texture, shading, border, etc to an image object, or a size, font, style, effect, etc to a text object.
Preferably, the means for providing the user with the amended version of said at least one second form comprising a printer, at least one of the surfaces being provided by a laminar substrate, the system adapted to print at least one of said forms on the substrate on demand, wherein the printer is adapted to print the coded data on the page at the same time as the form is printed. The coded data is preferably substantially invisible to the user. In one form of the invention, then, the respective forms are printed on paper pages, each page including both the viewable information associated with objects/commands, and the coded data, invisible to the user, readable by the sensing means.
Accordingly, therefore, the present invention provides a method and a system which utilizes one or more forms capable of interacting with a computer system. Whilst the novel method and system of the present invention may be used in conjunction with a single computer system, in a particularly preferred form it is designed to operate over a computer network, such as the Internet.
Physically, the form is disposed on a surface medium which may be of any suitable structure. However, in a preferred embodiment, the form is disposed on sheet material such as paper or the like which has the coded data printed on it and which allows interaction with the computer system. The coded data is detectable preferably, but not exclusively, outside the visible spectrum, thereby enabling it to be machine-readable but substantially invisible to the human eye. The form may also include visible material which provides information to a user, such as the application or purpose of the form, and which visible information may be registered or correlate in position with the relevant hidden coded data.
The system also includes a sensing device to convey data from the form to the computer system, and in some instances, to contribute additional data. Again, the sensing device may take a variety of forms but is preferably compact and easily portable. In a particularly preferred arrangement, the sensing device is configured as a pen which is designed to be able to physically mark the interactive form as well as to selectively enable the coded data from the form to be read and transmitted to the computer system. The coded data then provides control information, configured such that designation thereof by a user causes instructions to be applied to the software running on the computer system or network.
The nature of the interaction between the form and the sensing device and the data that each contributes to the computer system may vary. In one arrangement, the coded data on the form is indicative of the identity of the form and of at least one reference point on that form. In another embodiment, the interactive form includes coded data which is indicative of a parameter of the form, whereas the sensing device is operative to provide data regarding its own movement relative to that form to the computer system together with coded data from the form. In yet another arrangement, the form includes the coded data which at least identifies the form, and the sensing device is designed to provide, to the computer system, data based on the form coded data, and also on data which identifies the user of the device.
In a preferred arrangement, the system and method also employs specially designed printers to print the interactive form. Further these printers constitute or form part of the computer system and are designed to receive data from the sensing device. As indicated above, the system and method of the invention is ideally suited to operate over a network. In this arrangement, the printers are fully integrated into the network and allow for printing of the interactive forms on demand and also for distributing of the forms using a mixture of multi-cast and point-cast communication protocols.
Accordingly, in a preferred form, the present invention provides methods and systems which use a paper and pen based interface for a computer system. This provides many significant benefits over traditional computer systems. The advantage of paper is that it is widely used to display and record information. Further, printed information is easier to read than information displayed on a computer screen. Moreover, paper does not run on batteries, can be read in bright light, or robustly accepts coffee spills or the like and is portable and disposable. Furthermore, the system allows for hand-drawing and hand-writing to be captured which affords greater richness of expression than input via a computer keyboard and mouse.